Latch for sliding doors



Dec. 22, 1964 D. J. RUST LATCH FOR SLIDING DOORS 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed May 2'7, 1963 INVENTOR. David a. 2:151

WMWMW Dec. 22, 1964 D. J. RUST LATCH FOR SLIDING DOORS Ffled May 27, 1963 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 United States Patent Ofilice 3,162,472 Patented Dee. 22, 1964 3,162,472 LATCH FOR SLIDENG DUORS David J. Rust, San Leandro, Califi, assignmto Rylock Company, Ltd., San Leandro, Califi, a corporation of California Filed May 27, 1963, Ser. No. 283,365 2 Claims. (Cl. 292-414) This invention relates in general to sliding doors such as are installed in residences to afford access to a patio,

swimming pool or garden area; the invention being directed particularly to an improved latch for such type of door.

The major object of the invention is to provide a latch, for the purpose described, designed to be opened or closed from the interior of the residence only, and arranged so that it is impossible to release or open the latch from the outside no matter how much the door may be jigglcd in an attempt to disengage the latch.

Another important object of the invention is to so arrange and mount the latch that the latch member itself is completely enclosed and thus invisible from either side of the door when the door is closed and the latch is advanced and engaged, or when the door is open and the latch is disengaged and retracted.

An additional object of the invention is to provide a housing in which the latch member is mounted and from the outside of which said latch member is manipulated; the housing being secured on the door and also being arranged to serve as a handle for sliding the door to and fro.

A further object of the invention is to provide an improved latch which is especially designed, but not limited, for use on a metallic frame, glass panel type of sliding door.

A further object of the invention is to provide a latch for sliding doors which is designed for ease and economy of manufacture.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a practical, reliable, and durable latch for sliding doors, and one which is exceedingly effective for the purpose for which it is designed. I

These objects are accomplished by means of such structure and relative arrangement of parts as will fully appear by a perusal of the following specification and claims.

In the drawings;

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary interior elevation of a generally conventional form of sliding metallic door and frame combination; the view showing the improved latch as mounted on the door and with the latter in a slightly open position.

FIG. 2 is a similar but enlarged view, partly broken out and in section; the view showing the door as fully closed but with the latch in its fully released and retracted position.

FIG. 3 is a similar view, but shows the latch in its normal position when advanced and engaged.

FIG. 4 is a similar view, but shows the position assumed by the latch when an attempt is made to open the door without first releasing the latch.

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary sectional plan taken substantially on line 55 of FIG. 3.

Referring now more particularly to the drawings and to the characters of reference marked thereon, the door, indicated generally at 1, extends as usual between the sill 2 and head 3 of the fixed door frame 4, and is slidably mounted in connection with said sill and head in the conventional manner. The frame 4 includes a locking jamb 5 which is vertically channeled in facing relation to the corresponding stile 6 of the door 1, as shown at 7 in FIG. 5, to receive the adjacent edge portion of said stile therein when the door is closed. The channeled portion 7 is of suflicient depth to allow of a limited amount of opening movement of the door from a fully closed position without the adjacent edge of the stile 6 being exposed. The purpose of this feature will be described later.

The latch, which is the subject of this invention and which is included in part with the jamb 5, comprises a preferably rectangular housing 8 suitably secured against the innerface of the stile 6 at a convenient point in the height thereof. The housing 8 includes a side wall 9 disposed so as to be close to the adjacent face of the jamb 5 when the door is in a fully closed position, as shown in FIGS. 2, 4 and 5. I

Turnable and independently vertically movable in a short vertical slot S (see FIG. 2) in the vertical laterally inner wall It) of the housing 8, and which wall is parallel to the stile 6, is a stub spindle 11 disposed at right angles to the door 1 and parallel to the jamb 5. A knob 12 for turning the spindle 11 is secured thereto outside the housing; the knob including a circular base member 13 abutting said wall 10 and of sufiicient diameter to always cover the slot S so that nothing can pass through or become accidentally wedged in the slot between said base member 13 and the wall 10.

Fixed on the spindle 11 within the housing 8 is the latch member 14. This member is of generally hook shaped form and is adapted to be contained completely within the housing 8, or to project through a vertically elongated slot 15 in the side wall 9 of the housing and thence through a similar slot 16 in the jamb 5, depending on which way the knob 12 is turned. The latch member 14, and the slots through which it may pass, are disposed so that the slot 16 will be laterally inward and clear of the channeled portion 7 of the jamb 5, as shown in FIG. 5.

The latch member 14 includes a shank 17 having a straight lower edge which is tangent to and above the spindle 11 when said shank is projected through the slots 15 and 16. A hook arm 18 depends from the outer end of the shank 17; said arm at its lower end being formed with a rounded tip 19 facing in the direction of the jamb 5 and engaging against the same when the door is closed and the latch member 14 is swung through the slots by the turning of the knob 12.

The width of the housing 8, lengthwise of the door and relative to the length of the latch member 14 radially of the spindle 11, is such that when said member is swung into the housing from a latching position by rotation of the knob l2 and spindle 11 in one direction, the movement of said member will be limited by the engagement thereof with the wall of the housing 8 opposite the side wall 9, as shown in FIG. 2. This assures that the latch member can be turned to its latching position only by rotation of the knob in the opposite direction.

It will also be seen that the lower edge of the slot 16 is adjacent but below the level of the spindle 11 when the latter is at its normal position at the bottom of the slot S. Further, the horizontal distance between the axis of the spindle 11 and the jamb 5, when the door is closed, is then considerably less than the radial distance from said axis to the tip 19; the tip 19 then being some distance below the spindle. With this arrangement, should an attempt be made to slide the door open when the latch member is advanced and engaged, the tip 19 while remaining in contact with the jamb 5 willas the door moves slightly in on opening direction-automatically ride up on said jamb until the tip abuts against the underside of a lip 20 projecting horizontally from the jamb 5 at the bottom of the slot 16 and away from the door, as shown in FIG. 4. When the tip 19 is in such last named position, it approaches the level of the spindle 11, and the distance between the axis of the latch member 14 and the jamb 5 is then approximately the same as said radial distance from the spindle axis to the tip 19. There is, therefore, no tendency for the tip 19 to move up any further, nor can the door he furtheropened. The slight or limited opening of the door, as described above, is insufficient to shift the stile 6 clear of the channeled portion 7 of the jamb 5. As a result there is no chance for any implement to be placed between the stile and jamb and engaged with the shank 17, from the outside of the door, in an endeavor to lift said shank and disengage the same from its latched position. When the door is fully closed, however, upward swinging of the latch mernber 14 by rotation of knob 12 moves the tip 19 through an arc which clears the lip 20 and the latch can be easily released for opening of said. door.

Sliding doors, of the general type described, are usually capable of a certain amount of vertical movement relative to the sill and head of the mounting frame 4. ,The vertical slot S in the housing 8, in which slot the spindle 11 of the latch memberl is turnable and slidable, prevents any such vertical movement of the door (if imparted thereto in an endeavor to dislodge or release the latch member) from causing the shank 17 of said member from rocking on the lower edge of the slot 16 and thereby possibly jerking the hook arm 18 upwardly so that it could be withdrawn through the slot 16.

The housing 8 is provided at its side opposite the wall 9 with a relatively heavy and deep flange 21 which projects laterally inward from the door and serves as an inside handle for sliding the door back and forth. An

outside handle 22 of suitable form is mountedron the such deviations from such detail may be restorted to as do not form adeparture from the spirit of the invention,

as defined by the appended claims.

Having thus described the invention, the following is claimed as new and usefuland uponwhich Letters Patent is desired:

1. A latch for a sliding door mounted in a fixed frame having a locking jamb against which the adjacent stile of the door abuts when the door is ina fully closed position, the latch comprising, a hook-shaped latch member disposed parallel to the door, mounting means for the latch member comprising a housing secured on and projecting laterally inward from the inner .face of the stile adjacent but clear of the jamb when the door is closed, the housing including a vertical wall spaced from the stile, and a manually turnable transverse spindle journaled in said wall and on which spindle the end of the latch member opposite the hook thereof is fixed, the latch member being disposed between said wall and the adjacent face of the stile, and said latch member being adapted to project from the side of the housing nearest the jamb and into latching relation with the jamb through a slot therein when the spindle is rotated in one direction; said wall of the housing being formed with a vertical slot in which the spindle is turnable and slidable.

2. A latch for a sliding door mounted in a fixed frame having a locking jamb against which-the adjacent stile" of the door abuts when the door is in a fully closed position, the latch'comprising a latch member having a shank and a hook element depending from one end of the shank, and having a relatively small rounded tip on its lower end facing the jamb when the latch member is in latching position, means mounting the latch member at the end thereof opposite said element in connection .with the laterally inner face of the door stile for rotation about an axis at right angles to the stile, the jamb having a vertical slot in position to receive the hook' element therethrough when the door is fully closed and the latch member is rotated in one direction about said axis from a retracted position to a latching position, and the length of the latch element from said axis to the lower end of the hook elementbeing such that when the latch member is in latching position, said tip only of the hook element will engage the face of the jamb opposite that engaged by the door at a point a material distance below the slot, and a lip on the jamb projecting back from the lower end of the slot; the axis of rotation of the latch member relative to that of the lip being such that when'the latch member is' swung up from a position in which the tip engages the jamb, said tip will clear the lip in spaced relation thereto.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS ,M. HENSON WOOD, JR., Primary Examiner. THOMAS J. HICKEVY, Examiner. 

1. A LATCH FOR A SLIDING DOOR MOUNTED IN A FIXED FRAME HAVING A LOCKING JAMB AGAINST WHICH THE ADJACENT STILE OF THE DOOR ABUTS WHEN THE DOOR IS IN A FULLY CLOSED POSITION, THE LATCH COMPRISING A HOOK-SHAPED LATCH MEMBER DISPOSED PARALLEL TO THE DOOR, MOUNTING MEANS FOR THE LATCH MEMBER COMPRISING A HOUSING SECURED ON AND PROJECTING LATERALLY INWARD FROM THE INNER FACE OF THE STILE ADJACENT BUT CLEAR OF THE JAMB WHEN THE DOOR IS CLOSED, THE HOUSING INCLUDING A VERTICAL WALL SPACED FROM THE STILE, AND A MANUALLY TURNABLE TRANSVERSE SPINDLE JOURNALED IN SAID WALL AND ON WHICH SPINDLE THE END OF THE LATCH MEMBER OPPOSITE THE HOOK THEREOF IS FIXED, THE LATCH MEMBER BEING DISPOSED BETWEEN SAID WALL AND THE ADJACENT FACE OF THE STILE, AND SAID LATCH MEMBER BEING ADAPTED TO PROJECT FROM THE SIDE OF THE HOUSING NEAREST THE JAMB AND INTO LATCHING RELATION WITH THE JAMB THROUGH A SLOT THEREIN WHEN THE SPINDLE IS ROTATED IN ONE DIRECTION; SAID WALL OF THE HOUSING BEING FORMED WITH A VERTICAL SLOT IN WHICH THE SPINDLE IS TURNABLE AND SLIDABLE. 